Requiem for a paradise

"Forty years ago, Muynak was a busy fishing port where the waters of the Aral Sea lapped up against the shoreline.

Today the waters have receded so much, that there is not a drop as far as the eye can see.


When the former Soviet Union diverted the Ama Dariya and the Syrdariya - the rivers which fed the Aral Sea - to grow cotton in the desert, they created an ecological and human disaster.

Thinking about my shaken land

Tonight, a powerful quake (magnitude 6.3 Richter, 8-9 Mercalli) hit the center of Italy, not far from Rome. Abruzzi region and L'Aquila city in particular, that was mainly interested by the earthquake are now counting his losses both in terms of human life and artistic/historical patronage.

Up to this moment 40 people died (at least 5 of them were children) and 40 are missing.

A civil protection official told the BBC that 3,000 to 10,000 buildings may have been damaged only in L'Aquila, a medieval city founded in the 13th Century and rich of Baroque and Renaissance buildings. Italian journalist Paulo Pacitti told that the city centre had been hard hit.

Apparently not only civil buildings were damaged, but some churches, chapels and historical buildings collapsed as well. A legacy of the past of immeasurable value got lost in few seconds.

At the same time, many other small towns in the area are completely burned to the ground. Their buildings, much older and less subject to static measurements more common in bigger cities.

From time to time, I am giving a glance to the dozen of yellow daffodils I bought this morning on my way to the office from an old lady sitting on the wayside.

Today, I cannot avoid thinking yellow is the color of danger.